Thread: day three!

did the three passes today: with, across, and against the grain. nice and close, and no cuts, but holy hell do i have razor burn. does that go away? i made the mistake of splashing some pinaud lilac vegatal aftershave on it.

...so...much...pain...

Yeah, done that with an Alum block. FIRE! doo-dee-doo dun-dun...

Originally Posted by cyrano138

did the three passes today: with, across, and against the grain. nice and close, and no cuts, but holy hell do i have razor burn. does that go away? i made the mistake of splashing some pinaud lilac vegatal aftershave on it.

...so...much...pain...

Could you possibly be using too much pressure when
shaving? Once the burn form the Pinaud goes away
does the irritation persist?


Terry

i guess it's possible. i don't intend to do again what i did yesterday: three full passes. i think i'm fine just going with the grain and then against it in some places.
part of the problem may be that i'm just not used to shaving so closely everyday. used to be i'd just make a few lazy passes with a mach 3 and go 24 to 36 to (sometimes) 48 hrs. before doing it again.

but, to answer your question, yes, my face was a bit raw for the better part of the afternoon yesterday.

I have almost 2 weeks worth of shaves in. My face has toughened a bit. Shaves getting a lot better with almost no burn. Really starting to see the benefits. I was warned it would take two weeks for my skin to toughen. We're right on track.

yeah i'm noticing that the shaves just keep getting better with less and less effort. very pleased with the whole endeavor.

Well, it might take up to a year to master the technique and fully apreciate the benefits of the straight razor shave, one of them being the alcohol aftershave don't burn as much or at all... It all depends on your technique and ability to keep the blade shaving sharp. And lets not forget the stropping.

Nenad

I found 3 things used to burn the hell out of my face.

1. Pressure. I was really pushing on my face like you can with a disposable. I now use just a smal amount of pressure. I've heard others say none at all, just the weight of the blade, but I find I need a bit.

2. Sharpness. I was using (up until about a week ago) a shavette which gave me razor burn for the first few shaves then was ok. A new blade gave me more burn, once it dulled down a bit it was ok.
Now I am using a straight and am pretty crap at honing I don't seem to get any burn. It pulls a bit on the chin and upper lip but I's much prefer that than 1 hour of burn after. One day I might be experienced enough to be able to achieve a consistant edge half way between burn and pull...

3. Aftershave..... Just forget about it. I use moisturiser which is much more soothing.

To add tothat list: If ou shave with an overhoned ie. rounded or wired edge, you can also expect to experience lasting razor burn. Not fun.

X

cyrano,

If the blade angle is too steep, it can cause razor burn. The spine should be about two spine widths away from your face.

Ed